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The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate (Mongolian: Hülegü-yn Ulus; Mongolian Cyrillic: Хүлэгийн улс; Persian: سلسله ایلخانی), was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanate was based, originally, on Genghis Khan's campaigns in the Khwarezmid Empire in 1219–1224, and founded by Genghis's grandson, Hulagu, in territories which today comprise most of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and some regions of western Pakistan. The Ilkhanate initially embraced many religions, but was particularly sympathetic to Buddhism and Christianity. Later Ilkhanate rulers, beginning with Ghazan in 1295, embraced Islam.
Ghazni is a city in central Afghanistan, with an approximate population of 141,000 people (2010). It is the capital of Ghazni Province, situated on a plateau at 7,280 feet (2,219 m) above sea level.<br/><br/> Ghazni was founded sometime in antiquity as a small market-town and is mentioned by Ptolemy. According to various legends it was founded by Raja Gaj of the Yadu Dynasty around 1500 BCE. In the 6th century BCE, the city was conquered by the Achaemenid king, Cyrus II, and incorporated into the Persian empire.<br/><br/> Ghazni was a thriving Buddhist center up until the 7th century. In 683 CE, Arab armies brought Islam to the region but many refused to accept the new religion. Yaqub Saffari from Zaranj conquered the city in the late 9th century. It later became the dazzling capital of the Ghaznavid Empire, which encompassed much of northern India, Persia and Central Asia. Between 1215–21, Ghazni was managed by the Khwarezmid Empire, during which time it was destroyed by the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan, led by his son Ögedei Khan.
The Khwarezm Shahs were a Persianate Turkish Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled over Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and western Afghanistan from a succession of capitals at Urgench, Samarkand, Ghazni and Tabriz.<br/><br/> Trade contacts between the Khwarezmids and China’s Song Dynasty (960-1279) were maintained via the Silk Road as well as by sea, but while Chinese porcelain techniques and designs strongly influenced Islamic potters, there is little indication of Chinese artistic influence on Iran and Central Asia through paintings.<br/><br/> In 1218 Genghis Khan sent ambassadors to Khwarezm, but they were seized and executed, prompting a Mongol invasion in 1220 that captured Bukhara, Urgench and Samarkand, resulting in the total destruction of the Khwarezmian state.
Dating from the late Khwārazm-Shāh Dynasty (1077–1231), the centre of the tray depicts a Persian - presumably Khwarezmid - ruler with two female attendants.<br/><br/> Around the rim a Silk Road caravan marches, comprising two-humped Bactrian camels and Persian merchants in pointed, Sogdian-style hats. Rey, Ray or sometimes Rayy was an important town on the Persian section of the Silk Road.
The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, (Mongolian: Судрын чуулган, Sudar-yn Chuulgan; Arabic: جامع التواريخ ‎; Persian: جامع‌التواریخ ), ('Compendium of Chronicles') or Universal History is an Iranian work of literature and history written by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani at the start of the 14th century.